


Golden Coins

by ElectoMe



Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-07
Updated: 2016-02-07
Packaged: 2018-05-18 20:59:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5942913
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElectoMe/pseuds/ElectoMe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Peeta has always noticed the girl with the dark braid, but has he really been paying enough attention to know who she really is or is he just in love with the idea of her?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Golden Coins

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fanfic written for Day 1 of the Prompts in Panem Farewell Tour. While I'm new to writing fanfiction, I'm definitely not new to reading it! I've been in the thg fandom a long time, come say hi at electome.tumblr.com

She comes into the bakery with her father. I'm sitting behind the counter, helping my papa count little gold coins when the bell above the door rings.

"Mr. Mellark!" My head snaps up at the incredibly high pitched voice. "Can I have a cookie?" The little girl is one I've never seen before, but I can't help but notice she looks nothing like the man with her. Her blonde hair and blue eyes make her resemble my best friend, Delly, or really any other girl from town. The man, on the other hand, is the polar opposite. He has hair as dark as the coal dust embedded in the sidewalk and eyes as pale as the winter sky. I know he must be from the part of the district that my brothers warn me about, the Seam.

"Primrose! My favorite customer. Nice to see you too, Reed." The man nods at papa.

"We are in good spirits today." Reed says, ruffling Primrose's hair, arranged in two braids, a style I remember seeing on the head of another little girl; except this girl, Katniss, looks nothing like the one in front of me.

Katniss is from the Seam too. Her papa is a hunter and I think she's one too. She's so brave, braver than I think I will ever be. Sometimes I think she might disappear into the woods and never come back. She likes it better there anyway, I can tell by the way she always stares out the window instead of paying attention to Miss McCarthy's lesson. Sometimes I think she might fail the sixth grade because she doesn't listen, but I still know that she's too smart for that.

"My little huntress and I shot a buck in the woods this morning. It's cause for celebration." It's hard to believe the little bouncing girl in front of me could fell a deer, even with the help of her papa.

"Where is Katniss this morning?" I snap my head up to my father so fast that a sharp pain sparks through my neck. Katniss? This is Katniss's papa?

"She's resting," Reed answers. "She worked hard today."

The two continue to chat amicably amongst each other about nothing. I tune out their conversation and get lost in my thoughts. I've never seen Katniss's papa so close before. The most I've seen is either the back of his head when he drops Katniss off at school or his profile when he trades at the back door of the bakery. It would be easy to confuse him with any other man from the Seam.

And Primrose. I didn't know Katniss had a sister. She's staring at me now, her little eyes squinting at me like she can't quite make out my figure. I wave awkwardly, hoping that she'll direct her attention back to her papa or even to the cases in front of her stocked with sweets.

"What's your name?" She asks me.

"Peeta." Something sparks in her eyes when I say my name.

"Do you know Katniss?" I nod and she squeals.

I'm about to ask why she did that when her papa calls her attention. "What should we get Katniss, little duck?"

"What do you think Peeta?" Primrose asks me.

I put a lot more thought into my decision than I probably should, but I ultimately decide on a cheese bun; a flaky piece of bread with cheese baked right in the middle. After all, I'd helped papa make them early this morning.

Primrose nods at my decision and tells Reed. "Can we get her a cheese bun?" In a flash, they have their order and they're getting ready to leave and all I'm left with is a couple more gold coins to count.

 

* * *

 

  
Katniss is wearing her hair in one braid today instead of two and she wears a green ribbon around the end of it, her papa must have bought it special with the money from the deer. Those are the only notable changes in her though. She still spends all day staring out the window.

I've been trying really hard to pay attention, but my eyes keep wandering over to her, but she never glances back.

Her mama picks her and a smiling Primrose up after school and I realize how dumb I was for not paying enough attention. Her mama is town but her papa is seam, that's why her and Primrose look nothing alike.

The little girl jumps up and down when she sees me, just a few paces behind her sister. "Hi Peeta!" Both Katniss and her mama turn around to look at me where I stand awkwardly shuffling my feet by the tree where I usually meet my brothers. I feel my cheeks redden when Katniss's eyes meet mine.

"Hi Primrose," I wave back so as not to be rude. To my horror, Primrose begins to drag her mama in my direction and Katniss follows closely behind. My heartbeat picks up in my chest the closer they get to me.

"Mama, this is Peeta. His papa is the baker. Katniss, he told me to get you a cheese bun." I don't think I imagine the way her cheeks tint a little pink at her sister's words.

She doesn't say anything though and I find myself craving to hear the sound of her voice. Her mama glances down at her before directing her attention to me. "Thank you for the suggestion, Peeta. Katniss really enjoyed it."

I don't know what else to say so I just nod and seconds later, they're walking away. I lean my back against the tree and slowly slide down it, not caring about the rough bark scraping against my back. When my butt hits the ground, I put my face in my hands and that's how my brothers find me.

"So you like seam girls now, Peeta?" I groan at Rye's at words. I look up to see him smirking and Bannock rolling his eyes. "You do like the dark haired girl, right? I think the other is a bit young for you."

At thirteen years old, Rye isn't that much bigger than me, but he still thinks that he has a say so in how I direct my life as if he's an adult.

"I don't like her," I lie.

"Why don't you just go talk to her?" Bannock asks me, much nicer than Rye did. I shrug my shoulders. "There's only a matter of time before another boy likes her and then she'll be gone."

"She doesn't want to talk to me."

"Well have you ever tried?"

"No."

"Well then how do you know?" I shrug my shoulders.

"Follow her home," Rye says. I think that's the worst idea he's ever had. "Bring her flowers or something, girls love that."

I look to Bannock for some kind of sanity, but he just shrugs. "It's better than what you're doing now." I guess that settles it. I turn to look around the trunk of the tree and can just barely make out the silhouette of the three Everdeen girls walking toward the seam.

I sigh before getting up and running after them, leaving my brothers behind.

I catch up with them just at the edge of the Seam. Katniss and Primrose are chatting amongst each other, Primrose keeping up most of the conversation. For a girl of only seven, she really knows a lot to be able to talk so much.

I'm trying my best to be discreet, but I know my footsteps are loud. Before we reached the Seam I was able to blend in with the other noises of town, but it's much quieter the farther out we get. I'm walking along the edge of the path a few feet behind them, but despite my efforts, every once in a while I may step on a twig or a dried leaf and then have to duck behind a wagon or a fence or whatever I'm near when Katniss turns around to look.

Eventually we pass a scraggly field. It doesn't look like much, but the expanse of it is covered in dandelions. I should come back out here one day with my pencils so I can attempt to draw it.

Their house isn't too far away from the meadow. I seize up when they go inside. I don't think I thought this plan through very well. Rye told me to leave her flowers, but I didn't think about stopping at the florist before coming all the way out here, I wouldn't have had much time to do it.

I walk back to the meadow to waste time. All the white and yellow buds give me an idea. I sit in the grassy field for nearly an hour weaving a crown out of flowers.

When I creep back around to her house. I see Reed on the porch opening the door and I duck back out of the way before he sees me. I hear a squeal from somewhere inside and at first I think it's Primrose, but when I peek around the corner of the house I catch Katniss running into his arms. The man is in his miner's uniform and covered completely in soot from the coal, but Katniss doesn't seem to care.

I don't think I can leave the flowers now. I don't want to interrupt this moment for them. Nothing like this ever happens in my house. I love papa, but the love doesn't stretch to my mother. I try, but she makes it really hard.

I stare down at the flowers in my hand after they disappear inside. I decide to leave it anyway, just on their doorstep. I hope she'll find it there.

I can't tell Rye what happened. If he knew, he'd tease me for days even though I know I did the right thing.

 

* * *

 

Primrose is wearing the flower crown when she comes in the bakery the next day. This time, she's accompanied by her mother and a dark haired girl that makes my heart skip a beat.

"Hi Peeta!"

"Hi Primrose."

"Everyone calls me Prim, you know."

"I didn't, but now I do." Papa is talking with their mama and it doesn't seem like their going to stop anytime soon. If Prim was the only one here, I may have been able to handle that, but Katniss's gray glare beyond intimidates me. Her eyes are beautiful though.

I clear my throat, mustering up all the courage I possess before muttering a, "Hello Katniss," in her general direction.

"Hi Peeta." I think my name from her mouth is maybe the most amazing thing I have ever heard in my life, just behind the time I heard her sing The Valley Song back in kindergarten. If I ever get the chance to hear her sing again, I may just faint.

"Peeta, I have a secret to tell you," Prim says to me, lowering her voice to a whisper even though it's clear that everyone in the room can hear her. She motions for me to come closer and I lean over the case. "I think Katniss has a crush on you!" I think she originally planned on being quiet, but the more excited she got, the louder she became and now Katniss is glaring at her with reddened cheeks. I've never seen someone look so angry and vulnerable at the same time. She storms out of the bakery and Prim runs after her, apologizing profusely. Their mama shares a look with papa before quickly buying her bread and running after her girls.

I'm dazed. I can't believe what I just heard. And Katniss, she wouldn't have run out like that if it wasn't true. Katniss Everdeen likes me. What do I do now?

Papa smiles knowingly at me and hands me the coins to count.

 

* * *

 

Reed Everdeen died in a mine explosion two weeks later. Katniss doesn't talk to me much anymore, not that she really did to begin with. After Prim told me her secret, I'd began to get into the habit of sitting with her and Madge, the mayor’s daughter, at lunch, abandoning my town friends in favor of them.

The sirens sounded while we were writing essays about coal production in Miss McCarthy's class. I barely had time to glance up before a black braid was whipping around the corner.

I felt sick like I might vomit. No one I loved was at risk, but Katniss could lose her whole world.

I go with papa when he takes a loaf of bread to their house a week after the explosion. I haven't seen Katniss in school since it happened and I am itching with anticipation to see her.

Katniss answers the door. She doesn't look that different, but what she does look is extremely tired.

"How are you Katniss? Where's Violet?" Papa asks her.

"I'm fine and she's sleeping. She's been sleeping a lot."

"Well take this." He says, handing her the bread.

Katniss stares at the loaf skeptically before taking it in her hands. "Thank you, Mr. Mellark."

"Bye Katniss," I say and she waves halfheartedly.

 

* * *

 

Papa gives me a few gold coins every week for working in the bakery. He has to slip them to me or else my mother might find out and no one wants that.

She is working in the bakery tonight which is exactly why I am hiding in my room.

After a few more minutes of counting my coins in silence, I hear my mother screaming. I creep down the stairs to find her grumbling about seam trash, but I don't understand until I glance out the window I find a small form in the rain huddled against the apple tree in our backyard. And it isn't just any seam girl, it's Katniss.

I don't know what comes over me, but I find myself running back up the stairs and grabbing all the gold coins I've saved. When I get back down to the kitchen, mother is back out in the front. The cloying smell of cinnamon and raisins fills the kitchen and suddenly I get a really stupid idea.

I burn my hands on the oven as I open the doors and quickly before my mother comes back, I push the baking bread into the fire at the bottom of the oven.

It doesn't take long for the burning sent to travel to the front of the bakery. And soon I hear my mother's quick, little footsteps coming towards me.

Her face is red, but I'm not regretting my decision for a second even as the rolling pin strikes my face.

I stumble out into the rain with my mother screaming at me to feed the burned bread to the pigs. I attempt to tear off the worst of the burned parts and throw them into the pen, but once my mother disappears inside, I direct my attention to Katniss.

I walk towards her, my clumsy feet slipping in the mud. "Katniss? Are you alright?" I've never seen her look this broken before, she looks so different from the strong girl I've built up in my mind.

I can't tell if she's crying or if it's just the rain running down her face, but when she croaks out a small, helpless, "No." I feel like I might cry too. I help her up and walk her back towards her home in the seam.

I tuck the bread into my jacket in an attempt at keeping it as dry as possible which seems useless considering this downpour.

I had no idea she was suffering so much. I have my arm wrapped around her waist and I can feel her hipbones jutting out through the large hunting jacket that she wears. I guess the bread papa left didn't stretch far.

Once we reach her home, Katniss would have collapsed on the front porch if it weren't for my hold on her. I help her inside to find a frail Prim and a sleeping Violet. The Prim I knew was so vibrant and full of life, but this girl is a completely different person.

I sit Katniss down at the table and move over to get Prim. She barely manages a smile when she sees me. She's just as weak and thin as Katniss.

I slice the bread and serve some to each of them, making sure to leave Violet a portion for when she wakes and the second loaf for them to eat tomorrow.

Prim falls asleep at the table with a piece of bread still clutched in her fist and I carry her as best I can to the room that Katniss points out to me. When I come back out, Katniss is staring at me.

"What happened to your face?"

I'd actually forgotten about the bruise forming on my cheek. My mother was the farthest thing from my mind. "I may have gotten into an accident with a rolling pin."

A fire I hadn't expected flashes through her eyes. "She did that to you?"

I nod. "I'm okay though, I promise. I'm more worried about you."

"It's been hard, Peeta."

It's then that I remember the coins weighing down the fabric of my pocket. "Take these." I dig inside, making sure I grab each one and put them on the table in front of her.

"No. No, I don't want your charity. We'll be fine."

"It's not charity. It's a loan. I'll be expecting some game when you start back hunting."

She smiles a little at that. "I haven't been since papa died. I've never been out there alone."

"But you can do it, you're just as strong as he was," I tell her with all the earnestness I can muster.

"Thank you."

 

* * *

 

Rye tells me he's been seeing Katniss around with an older boy. "His name is Gale Hawthorne, tall, muscular, kind of broody. They're always out in the woods together. People are starting to talk."

"She's twelve, what could she be doing out there?" Bannock asks.

"What are you talking about? Twelve is when the magic starts to happen." He gets this dreamy look in his eyes at his words and I wouldn't dare ask what he's thinking about.

"They're just hunting," is all I say.

"Yeah, hunting," he replies, mocking me.

Katniss doesn't like Gale like that, or at least she's never she does. But she's never said anything about liking me either. I haven't heard anything about it since that time Prim told me she had a crush on me. That day doesn't even seem real anymore, so far in the past that it seems to be.

My feelings for her haven't changed, I don't think they ever will. At twelve years old, she's it for me whether we end up together or not.

Once she started back hunting I could see the light slowly returning to her eyes, her and Prim came back to life though it seems her mother may need a bit more time to make a recovery.

She's been so busy as of late that crushes are probably the last thing on her mind. And now she spends all her afternoons in the woods with Gale.

What I can say regarding my relationship with Katniss is that I can finally say that we are actually friends. She wants to spend time with me. She even stops by the bakery sometimes when she's not trading provided that my mother isn't around.

She's supposed to come by today while my mother is visiting her sister, but there is no definite time that she will be back from hunting.

"All I have to say is," Rye begins, pulling me from my thoughts. "Hold on to you girl, she might slip through your fingers." With that, him and Bannock disappear downstairs to help papa with the bakery.

I pull out my pencils and a couple sheets of paper to bide my time until Katniss arrives. I find myself almost absentmindedly sketching a black braid. Her face appears shortly after that, the lines and shadings are a little clumsy, but the image is clearly of her.

I'm so ensconced within my drawing that I don't notice her watching me until I glance up and I jump. "How long have you been standing there?"

She shrugs. "A few minutes. I didn't want to disturb you." She moves towards me and sits next to me on my bed.

"How was hunting?"

She shrugs. "Fine, I guess, uneventful."

"No fun Gale stories?" I cringe at my words.

She stares quizzically at me. She must be able to tell that I'm fishing. "No, we just hunted." I nod. "Why do you ask about him?"

"No reason."

"Peeta." She's scowling at me now. I can't hold up for much longer under that look.

"Rye told me people have been saying things about you and Gale."

"What kind of things?"

"About what you do in the woods."

"What are you talking about? All we do is hunt."

"Well I know that," I say. " But other people have other ideas."

"Like what? Like kissing and stuff?" She screws up her face into a look of complete repulsion. Any doubts I may have had just dissipated at that look. "I don't like him."

"Oh. Okay."

"I like someone else." This piques my interest.

"Who is it?"

"He already knows, but he likes to play dumb." She leans over then, and plants a kiss on my cheek.

My smile may just split my face in half. She reaches in her pocket and pulls out a little gold coin, its face is covered in dirt as if she found it embedded into the ground.

She pulls my hand towards her and places it in my palm. "This is to start paying back my loan." Then she pulls me back down to her and kisses me on the lips.


End file.
